Arabic Literature Research Articles

Al-Mutanabbi, the Renowned 10th-Century Arab Poet: Insights from Eastern and Western Scholars' Research

This study offers a comparative analysis of Eastern and Western scholarship on Al-Mutanabbi, the renowned 10th-century Arab poet, whose work has profoundly impacted Arabic literature and beyond. By examining key themes such as linguistic style, cultural identity, heroism, and individualism, the research highlights differences in how Eastern and Western scholars interpret his legacy. Eastern scholarship emphasizes Al-Mutanabbi’s mastery of the Arabic language, his deep cultural significance, and his philosophical exploration of Arab ideals, celebrating him as a symbol of Arab identity. Western scholars, on the other hand, often frame his work within the global literary tradition, focusing on universal themes of self-reflection and existential struggle, which position him as a bridge between Eastern and Western literature. This cross-cultural dialogue underscores the poet's dual role as both a representative of Arab heritage and a timeless voice for universal human concerns. The study concludes with suggestions for future research, including exploring Al-Mutanabbi's themes of fate and mortality, cross-cultural influences, and the effects of translation on his work's interpretation. Such research would further establish Al-Mutanabbi’s relevance in world literature and deepen the appreciation of Arabic poetry’s contributions to global literary heritage.

The Impact of One Thousand And One Nights on Western Romance Stories. The Story of Tristan and Isolt Is an Example

Objectives: This research is concerned with demonstrating the impact of the ancient Arabic narrative structure on Western love stories. To demonstrate the areas of convergence and divergence in the fundamental and eternal idea of love, as writers expressed it in their arts in varying ways, and they met in expressing it in some axes, which leads to exploring Western civilization’s dialogue with the stories of One Thousand and One Nights in Western love stories. Methods: The research considered that the optimal threshold for comparison is to determine the impact of Arabic literature on Western literature, and to explain the term “romance.” Then, taking the stories of One Thousand and One Nights as a reference text, we show, through comparison between it and one of the love stories known to Westerners - which is the story of Tristan and Aizult - the points of similarity and difference between them, adopting the approach of intertextuality to clarify the features of the cultural impact of the stories of One Thousand and One Nights. In Western stories. Results: The West’s contact with the East had an impact on the new concept of love in European literature. The book One Thousand and One Nights is considered one of the most influential books in Western romances, including the story of Tristan and Iseult. The research showed the possible Arabic origins of this story through textual comparison, as well as between the most prominent features. The cultural impact of One Thousand and One Nights. Conclusion: The book One Thousand and One Nights had an impact on changing some Western literary concepts, including the concept of romance, and this influence was clear in Western romances. Recommendations: The research recommends paying attention to comparative studies and rooting literary concepts and their roots to demonstrate the points of convergence between cultures and the role of Arabs in civilizational interaction.

The Use of Islamic Legal Discourse in Literature: How Did Premodern Arab Critics Classify and Analyze Legal Intertextuality?

Abstract This essay investigates the use of Islamic legal discourse in literary works and the characteristics that this type of intertextuality develops in premodern Arabic literature. Starting with the theoretical classification of legal intertextuality found in works of rhetoric and literary criticism, I analyze ten poetic examples in order to shed light on how legal intertextuality is used by poets to both develop the argumentation within a text and achieve aesthetic goals. Specifically, I analyze two figures of speech that are used to create this intertextuality: Iqtibās, the definition of which is extended to the quotation of or allusion to legal terms, ideas, concepts, and tenets in literature, and tawriya/tawǧīh 2 , which is used to explain how citing technical legal terms conveys twofold meanings. The result is an investigation that looks at both theory and practice and attempts to reclassify legal intertextuality based on the empirical data found in the sources.

"Dialectics of soul" and other psychological techniques in the novel "The Last Day" by Mikhail Naimy

The object of the study is the novel "The Last Day" by the Lebanese writer Mikhail Naimy. The subject of the study was the "dialectic of the soul" and "stream of consciousness", that is, techniques for describing the human condition borrowed from Leo Tolstoy masterpieces. For one day, the soul of Musa al-Askari overcomes severe suffering, it dies and is reborn in a new form. A small person turns into a strong personality. Psychological techniques for describing borderline human states, taken from Fyodor Dostoevsky, also helped the Lebanese writer to reveal the depths of the hero's personality. The scientific novelty of the article is that the Russian writers' techniques are found in the little-studied Arabic novel "The Last Day" that is an illustration of the Russian literature influence on Arab culture. For the first time in Russian literary study, this novel is analyzed from the "dialectic of the soul" perspective. The research was conducted on the basis of historical, literary, comparative methods, using scientific methods of observation and description, analysis and synthesis. As a result, it is noted that the novel narrative is organized according to the psychological realism, in which there is a psychological analysis passed through the stream of consciousness, an internal monologue and the dialectic of the soul. The authors conclude that Naimy took a humanistic approach and a special psychological manner of narration from Russian literature, including Tolstoy and Dostoevsky's works, to convincingly prove that a person is a fine–tuned mechanism, that kindness will save the world, and the secret of happiness lies in serving people. The practical significance of the research is that its results develop the topic of cultural ties between Lebanon and Russia. The article contributes to the development of Arabic literature, which remains poorly studied by Russian literary study.

JAMAL ASSADI: A VOICE OF CULTURAL BELONGING IN MODERN ARAB POETRY

This article explores the poetry of Jamal Assadi, a prominent Palestinian poet whose works delve into themes of identity, displacement, and cultural belonging. Using a biographical approach, the study analyzes how Assadis personal experiences, particularly as a Palestinian Arab living in Israel, inform his poetic voice. By drawing on Assadis own words from interviews and his body of work, the article examines key poems to highlight his reflection on time, memory, and the socio-political struggles of the Arab world. Assadis use of both classical Arabic poetic forms and modern free verse techniques enriches the Arab literary tradition, blending the old with the new to address contemporary concerns.The critical method employed in this article focuses on the relationship between Assadis life and his literary creations, emphasizing how his poetry acts as a mirror of personal and collective experiences of exile and cultural fragmentation. Additionally, the article explores Assadis engagement with global literary traditions, showing how intertextuality plays a role in his political critique. Ultimately, this article affirms Assadis significant contribution to modern Arab literature, arguing that his poetry serves as both a continuation of classical Arabic traditions and a platform for innovation. By addressing themes of cultural resilience and political critique, Assadis work provides a nuanced and powerful voice within the broader landscape of Arab poetry, making it an essential subject of literary study.

The expropriation of Arabic from Arab-Palestinians: On Arabic and coloniality in the Israeli academic sphere

Referring to three topics – (1) the place of Arabic in the Israeli public academic sphere, (2) the pedagogy of the teaching of Arabic in Israeli universities and (3) the use of Arabic as an academic language (discussion and research, academic writing, academic sources) – this paper will study the field of Arabic in Israeli universities as a direct outcome of the power relations in the country, crystallized over the years between the indigenous Palestinian population and the mostly European-oriented Jewish-Zionist decision-makers, thinkers and scholars. Following we will relate to settlercolonial elements in the Zionist project in order to explain the process of inferiorization of Arabic in the Israeli academic sphere, and the way its study was created through prioritizing Western methods that by and large exclude the Arab-Palestinian society and that have made members of this society uninfluential even in the study and research of its own language and culture. These ways included the preference of Western philology (‘grammar translation’) on direct methods (such as ‘immersion’ or ‘direct teaching’), the decision to teach Arabic in Hebrew, the pattern of discussing Arabic literature in Hebrew, the preference Hebrew-led linguistic landscape, and more.

The Evolution of the Story of Prophet Yusuf (PBUH) in Malay Literature and the Influence of Arabic Literature

The Evolution of the Story of Prophet Yusuf (PBUH) in Malay Literature and the Influence of Arabic Literature

Is Oration Literature?

Abstract Is oration literature? More specifically, can we read the multi-functional Arabic oration (khuṭbah) of the 1st/7th and 2nd/8th centuries as part of the classical prose canon? In this article, I argue that if our definition of literature includes beautiful language, admiration expressed by literary theorists, and masterful articulation of themes to evoke audience response, early Arabic oration is most certainly literature. I demonstrate this claim by analyzing the rhythmic and graphic oral aesthetics of early Arabic oration, the views of medieval theorists regarding its distinguished place and literary nature, and its crucial influence on the development of the chancery epistle (risālah), the first written genre of Arabic literary prose. I contend that khuṭbah is the foundational prose genre of Arabic and it has materially influenced the major genres of risālah and maqāmāt that followed. The history of Arabic literature cannot be written without oration.

The Influence Of Mu'tazilah According To Al-Zamakhshari On The Understanding Of Hadith As Arabic Literature In Tafsir Al-Kashshaf As An Example/ تأثير الـفكر الاعتزالي عند الـزمخشري في فَهْمِ الـحديث في تفسيره الـكشاف نموذجًا

There are still errors in responding to Arabic literature, especially the hadith of the prophet, starting from the wrong assessment of the hadith, then the fragmented understanding of the hadith based on abstract rational logic, ignoring the guidance of scholars in their context with other texts, or underestimating their scientific guidance and ending with making the hadith as an argument for the intellectual or doctrinal school of thought that is very influential in responding to the hadith of the prophet. This study aims to clarify Al-Zamakhshari's position on the hadith of the prophet in terms of understanding, conclusions, and assessments through his revealing interpretation. The research method used is the inductive method. When tracing the hadiths Al-Zamakhshari mentioned in his tafsir, a descriptive approach is used to explain Al-Zamakhshari's position on them, and then a critical approach is used. By presenting this, Al-Zamakhshari failed to understand, direct, and decide on the hadiths; in this case, he differed from the trusted great imams. The result is That al-Zamakhshari is one of the scholars influenced by the Mu'tazilah in responding to hadith, as can be seen from the adjustment of hadiths in accordance with Mu'tazilah.

Sustainability and Innovation in Green Energy: Biomass as a Renewable Energy Alternative

Objective: The study of the translation of Arabic literature into the Albanian language for the purposes of the Islamic call began as early as the first years when the Albanian regions in the Balkans embraced Islam. From that time, due to the need to learn the religion, individuals were either compelled to learn Arabic themselves or have certain texts translated for them. This study serves as a significant motive and resource in relation to the postmodern and post-truth era. If we refer to historical phases, we will observe that the majority of translated literature over time has been religious, with only a few exceptions, particularly in the literature of the Bejtexhinjtë (albanian muslim poets). This underscores the pivotal role of religious texts in shaping the cultural and spiritual understanding of albanian muslims, while also reflecting the limited but notable influence of secular and poetic works from the same period. Theoric Framework: Studies identify and analyze the Arabic literature into the Albanian language for the purposes of the Islamic call and the objective recognition of the role of the translation s in the formation and intercultural, educational, social and national transformations in albanian society.. Methods: The method used in this research is the quantitative method in the form of content analysis of works published in the field of media studies. The issue of challenges is never one-sided or directed at a single aspect; rather, it spans multiple segments: the translated work, the linguistic culture of the translator, the quality of publication, etc. Results and Conclusions: At the conclusion, we will present findings and recommendations to offer researchers and future scholars a comprehensive overview of the challenges and issues in Albanian translation studies from Arabic. Implications of research: This study is focused on nationwide internal needs, to emphasize those features that unite Albanians and to preserve their identity from external influences.

Arabic Panegyrics On The Prophet In Tamil Nadu State Of India Cultural Reverence

This research article explores the significance of panegyrics in Arabic on the Prophet in the Arabic literature of Tamil Nadu, India. Panegyrics, known as al-Madaih al-Nabawiyyah, are prominent in Islamic culture and express profound love, respect, and loyalty towards the Prophet. The article examines the historical background of panegyrics and their decline during the emergence of Islam. It discusses the poets who composed panegyrics in the presence of the Prophet and their alignment with the decline of pagan poetry. Additionally, the article highlights the relationship between panegyrics and Sira (biography), their formalization, and their association with Islamic mysticism. It focuses on notable panegyric compositions by scholars from Tamil Nadu, discussing their themes and contributions to Arabic literature. The article concludes by emphasizing the diversity of styles and meanings in prophetic panegyrics and their integration and cultural reverence into Sufism.

Description as a Fiction-Writing Mode Between Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield and Naguib Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley: A Comparative Study

Comparative literature expounds on the areas of convergence in literature and reproduces the cultural similarities between East and West, demonstrating its results in guiding literary and intellectual renewal movements. Arabic literature takes advantage of the works of literature of other nations and is always keen to develop and enrich its awareness and culture. As the novel is a celebrated genre used in the comparative literature area, the Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz, well-known as the Dickens of Egypt, is one of the key poles of the international Arab novel. Mahfouz's novels and short stories convey Cairo, the capital of Egypt, its neighborhoods, inhabitants, and groceries to the home of every reader. The images and representations of Cairo drawn by Mahfouz are compared to the masters of English literature, namely Charles Dickens who significantly impacted Mahfouz's writings, especially his great love for describing and depicting everything his eyes see. With appropriating a comparative study of Dickens’s and Mahfouz’s selected works, this paper examines the concept of “description as a fiction-writing mode” as reflected in two literary works—Dickens’s David Copperfield (1850) and Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley (1947) following the School of Comparative Literature based on the principle of similarity in its study and analysis of literary works.

Iḥsān ʿAbd al-Quddūs’ Paths to Freedom Between Journalism and Popular Fiction in the Novel "Anā Ḥurra" (I Am Free)

Iḥsān ʿAbd al-Quddūs (1919-1990) is one of the best-known journalists in the history of Egyptian political journalism. He began his career at Rūz al-Yūsuf magazine, founded by his mother, the celebrated actress and journalist who named the journal after herself. He was also a famed author of popular fiction, which was serialised in Egyptian mainstream weeklies from the late forties through the eighties. His name is associated with mass readership and sentimental novels and short stories whose protagonists often are young women struggling for freedom in a traditional and patriarchal society. In this article we will analyse his first success, the novel Anā Ḥurra (I Am Free), which was written a year after the 1952 Egyptian revolution. The aim of this study is to re-evaluate the underrated field of popular and middlebrow Arabic literature. We will focus on the relation between female liberation and politics in the novel, in particular how the story of the young protagonist’s search for freedom reflects the failures of the 1952 revolution. Keywords: Iḥsān ʿAbd al-Quddūs, Rūz al-Yūsuf, Anā Ḥurra, Journalism, Popular literature, Rebellion, Freedom.

New Trends in Arabic Novels in the Current Era

This study explores the new trends in contemporary Arabic novels, analyzing the thematic and stylistic shifts that characterize modern Arabic literature. The research highlights several emerging trends, including the diversification of themes, stylistic innovation, cultural hybridity, and the integration of technology into narrative forms. The study discusses how modern Arabic novels have expanded beyond traditional topics like love and politics to include more complex issues such as identity, migration, gender, and the impact of globalization. Stylistically, there has been a move towards more experimental approaches, with authors adopting fragmented structures, multi-layered narratives, and blending of genres. The incorporation of cultural influences from the West and the East has also enriched the content of Arabic novels, reflecting the multicultural experiences of modern Arab writers. Additionally, the use of digital platforms and technologies in storytelling is reshaping the narrative landscape, offering new methods for engaging readers. Through an analytical lens, this study offers a comprehensive look at how Arabic novels are evolving to reflect contemporary societal changes and global cultural interactions.

On The Politics of Arabic Literary Translation

This paper examines the external factors influencing the selection and reception of literary texts in translation, with a focus on the representation of Arab culture in the West. Drawing on Andre Lefevere's (1992) concept of patronage, the author discusses how patrons, including institutions and individuals, shape the translation and publication of Arabic literary works and explores their impact on the representation of Arab culture in the West. The paper gives examples of several translated Arabic works, reading through the external factors that have influenced their selection, translation, and reception in their target culture. The study contends that the translation of Arabic literature is often driven by ideological and financial motivations, resulting in a restrictive representation of Arab culture that perpetuates stereotypes and exoticism. Furthermore, the paper argues that the “decontextualization” of translated texts leads to a loss of their original identity and purpose, as they are re-inserted within their new context and reinterpreted according to the socio-cultural background of the target audience. By shedding light on the complex dynamics governing literary translation from Arabic, this study highlights the need for understanding the external factors that shape the translation and representation of Arabic literature in the West.

Translation into Arabic A study of the negatives and positives

The research aims to shed light on the importance of translation in the Arab Renaissance and its development of the Arabic language in the modern era. Translation is considered one of the most important factors of the modern Arab Renaissance, which began at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The translation movement expanded in Egypt and the Levant in the late nineteenth century, to the point of Some historians believe that it was more active than the translation movement in those countries today. Translation contributed to the development of the Arabic language, as it enabled it to introduce modern terminology and the emergence of new literary genres in Arabic literature, etc.. Through the descriptive and analytical approach followed in the study, I concluded that the impact of translation on the Arabic language has two aspects: one positive and the other negative: the positive impact is represented by enriching Arabic with thousands of vocabulary in science, technology and arts through Arabization, and with very large numbers of vocabulary and expressions through translation, but translation began to negatively affect the nature of the Arabic language in terms of structure, derivation, and incision of new words. The importance of the research is due to mentioning the virtue of translation in enriching the Arabic language in various fields, studying the positives and negatives related to translation into the Arabic language, and clarifying the obstacles that stand before the translator during the translation process and how to deal with them. 2

Some Comments on Early Arab "Wonders and Marvels" Literature

This study discusses copious early Arab literature of "wonders and marvels". The authors of such books found their materials in the Muslim religion, in the ancient Arab heritage and in strange facts about other cultures. The study examines the themes addressed by these works, including magic, fantasy, strange customs, curiosities, humor, the absurd, mockery, nightly chats, puzzles, riddles, rebuke, satire, defamation, battles, animals, angels, demons, etc. Composers of "wonders and marvels" books chose rhyming names for their works in order to attract the reader. The study found that the popularity of such books was due to the fact that certain phenomena and customs were perceived as incomprehensible by Arabs, who therefore sought transcendental or supernatural explanations, giving free rein to their imagination. Some books of this genre were apt to arouse fear in the reader and the oft-repeated stories in them were eventually believed by many and became means for realizing Arabs' desires and dreams. The study found that at first such books were perceived with scorn, as collections of superstitions and myths, and were therefore popular mainly among the lower classes. Because the genre did not attract the interest of the more educated, its scholarly study was neglected for a long time.

I’m writing in Tunisian: Orthography and identity in written Tunisian Arabic

In recent years the amount of written vernacular Arabic has increased dramatically. But encoding an unstandardized language in writing is not straightforward and mechanical; rather, it is a complex process that balances practical considerations with ideological stances such as autonomy from the standard language. This study examines how writers of Tunisian Arabic (or derja) are navigating this elaboration process. Using a quantitative analysis of a 279,000-word corpus of print literary works written in Tunisian Arabic (2014–2021) and a 5.8-million-word corpus of internet forum posts (2010–2021), this paper explores how Tunisians writing in derja make orthographic choices to collectively position themselves in relation to the larger Arab world. The study finds that forum writers who have advocated for an improved status for Tunisian Arabic use more phonemic spelling forms—more closely representing Tunisian pronunciation—while those who have advocated for Standard Arabic are more conservative in their spelling choices. The authors of Tunisian Arabic novels and translations—pulled between issues of elaboration and readability—are a bit more conservative than the pro- derja group. These results show how writers in unstandardized or not-yet-standardized languages like Tunisian Arabic use orthography to express national identity stances in relation to supranational languages and identities.

Manuskrip Arab sebagai Argumen Islam Asia Tenggara

This article is a critical review of Peacock's book on “Arabic Literary Culture in Southeast Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”. The book reflects the author's attention to the marginalization of the Arabic texts that are composed in the 17th and 18th century Southeast Asia, or for a Southeast Asian audience, and the Arabic texts that were read and copied in the region. Peacock based his analysis on a corpus of Arabic manuscripts in Southeast Asia from different collections in Banten, Jakarta National Library, and others. Peacock argues that in term of Islamic studies, scholars should not regard Southeast Asian Islam as peripheral, regardless its geographical position remotely from the Middle East. One of Peacock’s important arguments is that the royal court became the major centre for the writing and reading of an indigenous Southeast Asian Arabic literature before nineteenth century.

What You Heard Is What You Wrote: Dynamic Readings of ʿilm and adab Narratives in the Islamicate World

Abstract This article explores how the concepts of ʿilm and adab (knowledge and exemplary behavior) merged in formative Arabic literature and reached Al-Andalus. Originating in a proto-Sunni cultural milieu, different works were recycled across the Islamic world, giving rise to new literary adaptations and patterns of meaning. With the use of computational analysis, the data has revealed juxtaposed reuse practices. This contribution has found that early Andalusi works initially mirrored Eastern sources, gradually transitioning into a more specialized form of knowledge and performance, based on the legitimization of the authority of scholars during the challenging Taifa period.